A car is one of the biggest financial investments that many of us will make and it can be an important part of everyday travel. However, there may come a time where you and your beloved motor must part ways. You may have a desire to upgrade to a newer and/or a more economical model. You may have to change your vehicle type to be more accommodating for business or family life. Your income from selling your current motor should help contribute to your next purchase, so it pays to have made the effort to keep your car in good condition. Not only will this help you get the best possible price when you’re ready to sell but it will also be safe and reliable for its new owner as well.

Warranty Direct has complied some straight forward tips that can help you with selling your motor.

First impressions count

When selling your car, make sure that it is clean and tidy inside and out. A buyer will want to visualise themselves in your vehicle, and that will be a lot harder to do if the vehicle doesn’t look appealing.

A grubby, unwashed vehicle exterior may also give the impression your car hasn’t been looked after properly to a buyer. As well as giving the car a good wash, it’s worth paying attention to the condition of the car’s body. Any scratches that can be buffed out, small chips filled in and dents removed will make your vehicle instantly more desirable and add value.

On the inside, the interior should be as equally appealing. A floor littered with old receipts, sweet wrappers, CDs and empty water bottles for example will not help you sell. Another cost-effective tip is to change any worn interiors, such as old floor mats – you will be surprised at how small tweaks can smarten up your car’s overall appearance.

Provide a valid MOT, service & warranty

A valid MOT is essential for any car on the road. If it is close to running out, it should be renewed before selling. No one wants to purchase a vehicle and then immediately have to shell out for unknown faults, due to poor maintenance. A recent MOT will give the buyer more confidence in the vehicle, as opposed to a car which may not have been professionally checked for a while.

Arranging a complete service history will also help give any potential buyers a full informed background into how your vehicle has been maintained throughout your ownership. It’s important to make sure you have the vehicle’s V5 or Logbook documentation as it will also show the necessary information. You’ll also need it if you do complete a sale as the V5 / Logbook will need updating to reflect the new owner’s details.

It is also useful to check the status of your warranty, whether it is a manufacture’s or an extended one, as selling with one that is still valid could allow you to get more money for your vehicle. For a car’s warranty to be binding it will need to have been serviced in the last 12 months and any issues fixed prior to sale.

An added benefit of most extended warranties is that they are often transferable (for a small fee) if you sell before your policy expires. This can add value and make your car more attractive to buyers, but make sure you check with your provider if there are any reasons why transferring may not be possible.

Ensure the price is right

Once you have checked on the warranty status and MOT, you will need to decide how much you want to list your car for. Online research through car buying websites such as Auto Trader can provide a good indication of price by allowing you to see how much similar cars have been selling for.

It might also be worth checking your car’s depreciation from the original purchase value. This can help give you an idea of a realistic expectation of value from any potential buyers.

List your vehicle correctly

When listing your vehicle, it is essential to describe it as accurately as possible. The car make, model and year the car was first registered is vital. It also helps to inform any potential buyers looking at your listing about any faults that may currently exist with the vehicle – even if they’re small and not necessarily required following the last service or MOT.

The more informative and accurate your listing is, the better the chance of being able to attract the right buyer. A lack of information or exaggeration of facts can hinder any potential sales. The buyer knows exactly what they are getting for their cash and letting them know clearly with your listing is the best way to do that.

You must detail the year the car was registered and ensure all its documents are up-to-date and passed onto the new owner.

Completing the sale

If you’ve managed to sell your car, it is important and a legal requirement that you let the DVLA know you no longer own the vehicle and it has a new owner. Updating and sending the vehicle’s V5 documentation will allow the DVLA to update its records accordingly. You must also make sure you cancel your current vehicle tax. The new owner of the car will have to tax the vehicle themselves.

Informing the DVLA and making the required changes to documentation and tax can protect you from any parking tickets, speeding fines, tax or SORN fines that may happen with the new owner. So, make sure the DVLA are informed of the sale as soon as possible otherwise you may be handed any future offences of the new owner.

If applicable, your warranty company will need to know about the sale as well. Whilst most providers are more than happy to swap a warranty, the new owner’s details will still need to be checked and logged. Failure to do so will make the warranty void.

Chancellor Alistair Darling controversially backdated VED increases to 2001 in his March budget. Shadow Transport Minister Justine Greening has obtained documents from the treasury showing that the overall vehicle emission reduction of the VED changes is expected to be just one tenth of one percent.

The ABD suggests that even this miniscule saving in emissions from the changes will come almost entirely from the purchasing decisions of new car buyers and that the backdating element is likely to increase overall CO2 output. The backdating is clearly a tax raising scam dressed up in green foliage that will have the opposite effect to that claimed. Even within the government’s unjustified framework where plant food gas is seen as evil this cannot make sense. Surely even the few left who believe the man made global warming myth cannot think this is a good idea.

ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries explains: “The new rates impact owners of less efficient vehicles built since 2001. Owners of such cars face a choice: Either they sell their car at a drastically reduced price, sometimes scrap value for older, high mileage cars that nobody will want to pay £270 – £440 pa to tax, or they keep them and pay the higher taxes. If they keep the car then there is no impact on emissions. However many drivers may choose to sell. Ultimately and inevitably this will lead to such cars being scrapped far sooner than under the old VED regime, often when they are still perfectly serviceable. Now, clearly as inefficient cars get older they are very unlikely to be used by high mileage drivers who choose more efficient models. They tend to be in the hands of low mileage drivers. Therefore inefficient old vehicles are rarely great emitters. But encouraging their replacement with newer stock means CO2 is produced in production of the new vehicle. Put simply, the replacement of the cars affected that generally do low mileages with new cars will produce more CO2 than it saves.”

ABD chairman Brian Gregory said: “Alastair Darling must now quantify how the backdating of draconian VED increases on family cars to 2001 can possibly reduce emissions. If he cannot justify these increases then the tax that is hammering poorer families and the elderly must be scrapped. The government claim they are now listening. Let’s see some evidence”